Sunday, 19 July 2015

This summer, we've worked with the HP Alliance as they've drafted guidelines that support positive fandom interactions; FictionAlley's been around a long time, and we've seen a lot of discussions over the past fourteen-plus years about issues in and impacting fandomers and fandom; sometimes that gets in the way of creativity and sharing, and sometimes it silences voices, words and insightful contributions.
We agree with the idea shared by the HPA this month - We want our community and all others like it to be safe, constructive, positive spaces. - so we've read the guidelines at PositiveFandom; we hope that we've always followed the principles and concepts articulated within those statements, and we know you tell us when we don't. We know that "fandom is home to endless perspectives on and interpretations of a common material," - that concept is why FictionAlley was founded - and if you're interested in signing onto supporting the guidelines too, that would be magical and awesome.

And if you're going to be at GeekyCon in Orlando on August 1 (the event goes from July 30 to August 2), Heidi will be talking about legal issues involving fandom, fanworks and fandomers - including the importance of terms of use that include principles like those included in the Positive Fandom guidelines; come by and say hi!

Friday, 3 July 2015

One of Buzzfeed's newest listicles covers thirteen Harry Potter-verse stories that they'd like to see on the small screen. We've read most of the ideas in fanfic form at one time or another, but seeing them listed on Buzzfeed showcases the awesome depth and breadth of stories from and about the Wizarding World and its inhabitants. What would you rather see? APrisoner Of Azkaban comic written from the perspectives of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin? A History of Magic miniseries, framed like a documentary? A "Welcome to Night Vale"-esque podcast set at the Ministry of Magic?

How would your favorite fanfic translate to the small screen - or into a podcast?

Thursday, 2 July 2015

San Diego Comic Con is next week, and there's a number of events on the schedule for Harry Potter fans. Daniel Radcliffe will be at Nerdist at Petco Park on Saturday afternoon for an on-stage Q&A, and on Sunday, SDCC welcomes the return of the annual Harry Potter Fandom Panel.

Also, on Thursday and Friday, Friend of FA friend Hansi Oppenheimer will have her production team at SDCC to interview fandomers for SQUEE!, her forthcoming documentary on fandom - let her know if you’re interested in doing an interview.

You can also catch us at Game of Bloggers on Wednesday night at the Dragon Bar; we're joining Crazy4ComicCon and almost a hundred other websites for fun, celebrations of all things geeky, and great conversation. If you're not able to get to San Diego, we'll be tweeting about all things Harry Potter and fandom from July 8 through the 12th!

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Friday, 5 December 2014

They're coming this month, not just from fans, but from J.K. Rowling herself!
Starting on December 12, JKR will be posting one story a day on Pottermore - and at least one story will be focused on Draco. No word yet on who - or what - the other eleven stories are about but at least one FictionAlley staffer is hoping for Regulus Black.
What characters would you like to see in JKR's "ficlets"?

Friday, 3 October 2014

Where is the good Harry Potter fanfiction hiding? The amazing, well written, fluffy stuff with great characters and moments? I know it must be out there somewhere on ao3 but whenever I try to venture in I can only find... weird, weird stuff. Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Kellifer_K started the discussion off by asking for recs, and there were somegreatsuggestions (including that people search FA); Heidi wanted to share here what she said over there.I know that all fandoms have their own natural lifespan but as someone who has spent years involved in Harry Potter fanfiction - and wrote about it for annejamison's FIC book, the fact that people are having a hard time finding Harry Potter fanfic makes my stomach twist.
AO3 went live six years ago (October 3, 2008) today in a very limited beta - but that was already well over a year after the last Harry Potter book had come out. Harry Potter fanfic was very book-centric, even once the films started coming out, and a large proportion of magical HP fanfic was probably posted between the release of Goblet of Fire in 2000 and Order of the Phoenix in the summer of 2003 - it was called The Three Year Summer (although great stories were definitely written well after that, too!)Because of this, most Harry Potter fanfic isn’t on AO3. People did go back and upload older fics - but out of the 64000 fics with Harry Potter in them on AO3, perhaps 2500 of them are things people uploaded from their archives after 2008. A lot of people had written wonderful fics but left fandom by then, which is why you won’t find A Certain Point of View or Draco Malfoy, The Amazing Bouncing… Rat? on AO3. The Shoebox Project is a must-read (fluffy, angsty and perfect) but it’s only on LiveJournal. And I’m not sure the NC17 version of Boys’ Own Camping Adventure exists anywhere anymore because it disappeared when FFN took down all the NC17 fics ten-plus years ago, but the R rated version is still on FictionAlley. Most of the original Alternity fics are gone - flourish and I have looked - and Nocturne Alley’s been closed for over ten years, but they’re still interesting reads. Rec lists that were on Geocities are all gone - and most of the links would be broken by now, because people who used to have sites on Angelfire or EZBoard - or who paid for their own domains - have abandoned them by now, but it’s possible to go to Archive.org (no relation to AO3 except both are awesome) if you have a dead link and want to see if the archive of that page is still available somehow. But the rec listd above are terrific resources but everyone will have their own favorites - I was looking for a rec list on Sugarquill but couldn’t find one. FictionAlley’s user recs are all over the Park, and there’s a curated set here. What should we do to be a better, more user-friendly resource for people to find fics? FA's content management system needs to be updated (but for that we need either volunteer coders willing to spend a few dozen hours, or funding/donations - let us know if you can help either way via those links)) but what can we do with what we have?

Friday, 20 June 2014

SPOILERS!
After three days of tweeting from around Hogsmeade, Muggle London and Diagon Alley, this morning included a surprising and spontaneous chance to visit “both sides of the Wizarding World" without venturing into the Muggle world in between.

The day started with Butterbeer (for breakfast) and a visit with the Sorting Hat. Then I heard - but did not see! - a Thestral at a carriage by Hogsmeade Station, rode the Hogwarts Express to King’s Cross and spotted the Knight Bus - and some Sherlock Holmes books - by The Leaky Cauldron (their sign on the Wizarding side leaks).
I can’t wait to come back for the experience of walking into Diagon Alley with witches and wizards. I still haven’t ridden through Gringotts or seen the Beedle tales performance, nor tried Butterbeer soft-serve ice cream in a cone, and even today there were details I saw that I’d missed before - not just on the Hogwarts Express but, believe it or not, on Forbidden Journey!
So many kudos to Universal for this immersive experience. I can’t wait to show some pics & talk about it at the Harry Potter fan panel at Comic Con, and come back for LeakyCon next month, and again and again with family and friends. This place is perfect. It feels magical and detailed and correct and will inspire fans to think about and talk of and even create, and will inspire those who still haven’t read the books - or are just getting to the age where they want to - to love the Wizarding World.
Next stop, Fantastic Beasts, Jo?
We’re ready.

Coming over the weekend, our gallery of photos of detailed elements of the Wizarding World that fill Diagon Alley, Nocturne Alley and Horizontal Alley - we're sure FictionAlley is also around there somewhere with innumerable book shops and art galleries, but we didn't spot an entrance this time. If you can't wait, check us out on Twitter for brief glimpses of the magic.

Note: Some meal and hotel expenses, as well as park admission, were provided by Universal, although all opinions are our own.

Friday, 6 June 2014

Last weekend, FictionAlley's Heidi went "back to Hogwarts" (to quote the StarKid song) to revisit Hogsmeade, have some #Butterbeerforbreakfast and see what could be seen of the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando.

It was magical! While we're still a few weeks from the Grand Opening of the Diagon Alley area - Hypable reports that June 20 looks to be a likely Opening Day - we got the new double-park shopping bag with our purchases and caught glimpses of Hogsmeade Station and the top of the Knight Bus.

We also visited the revamped Honeydukes - now bereft of the joke products that will be available soon, alongside more japes and tricks, at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley - and checked out new products including mens' swimming trunks and an interactive Marauders' Map that lets you track Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore and Snape around Hogwarts.

Opening this summer, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley will bring even more of Harry Potter’s adventures to life. Inside the land, guests will enjoy themed shops, dining experiences and the groundbreaking thrill ride – Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts. The new area will double the size of the sweeping land already found at Universal Orlando, expanding the spectacularly themed environment across both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

The Harry Potter Fandom Panel is coming back to San Diego Comic Con! If you already have your Comic Con registration (it sold out months ago) we'll be back in our Great Hall - that's room 6DE - on Sunday, July 27 with Fantastic Fans & Where to Find Them.

The Harry Potter fandom is back! And so are J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World stories, with three new movies and a brand new theme park - which will all inspire hundreds of thousands of Wrock songs, fancons, fanart, cosplay, fan-ﬁlms and vids, charitable and social justice projects, and so much more. This year will mark our seventh Comic Con celebration of all things Harry Potter, and we're hoping to look back at creativity from the fandom, ship debates, Pottermore and Quidditch - as well as what's new from Universal Studios, WB and J.K. Rowling. Last year, about 800 Harry Potter fans capped off their Comic Con weekend at our panel discussion, and we'd love to do the same this year.

Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Not only did the Oxford English Dictionary add the verb “ship” in its quarterly update, their definition is spot-on; that's exactly how we've been using it since June of 2001. For some reason, though, we didn't include it in our 2002 glossary - possibly because we had already posted the definition in a pinned post in SCUSA.

Shipping is a general term for emotional and/or intellectual involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction. Shipping can involve virtually any kind of relationship from the well-known and established, through the ambiguous or those undergoing development, and even all the way to the highly improbable and the blatantly impossible. People involved in shipping (aka shippers) assert that the relationship does exist, will exist, or simply that they would like it to exist.

We also note their use of lines from Dido's White Flag in their headline; at least three fics on FA use those lyrics:

It's interesting that the OED blog chose to illustrate it with Sherlock/Molly, which implies to us that whoever wrote that page is versed in the ways of fandom. It's inherently meta, as an example, because many view the BBC Sherlock as fanfic (or a fanfilm) of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, which means that Sherlock/Molly is in and of itself a fan-created ship that is canon in one version of Sherlock fanworks, and is both an on-screen romance in The Empty Hearse but also not an on-screen romance in said episode as it’s only visually included in a story being told by a character.

In other words, kudos to you, OED, for including a fannish term, giving the fannish etymology, and wrapping the whole thing up in a perfect storm of English-story-centric meta.

Thursday, 15 May 2014

Technically, they're longer than drabbles, but this Spring, J.K. Rowling herself is writing Quidditch World Cup reports. They're not in the third person, as the HP novels themselves are.No, JKR is writing as Ginny Weasley Potter, and you can catch her updates and news reports from the Quidditch World Cup every day this week on Pottermore! You can also follow the progYou can also follow the progress of your favourite team with Pottermore’s ‘Route to the Final’, which can be found on the Pottermore Insider blog. JKR's new stories are sure to provide plot and art bunnies and creative inspiration to ficcers and fanartists alike! Let us know how they're inspiring your creativity.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

That'll be over fifteen years since the paperback Schoolbook was first released, in support of the UK's Comic Relief charity. With the movie release about 30 months away, we still don't know who'll star as Newt Scamander, or whether the cast will include Young Dumbledore, Potter, Weasley, Lovegood, Malfoy or Black ancestors, or... much of anything else - though we do know the film will be set in the wizarding world of New York City.

Universal released a sneak peek - SPOILERS! - into Harry Potter & the Escape from Gringotts, the newest ride at Universal Studios Orlando, located in the soon-to-open Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Diagon Alley.

Universal promised Grand Opening information soon - but we still don't know exactly when the dragon will start breathing fire and new flavours of Florean Fortescue's ice cream will start being served.

It will be sometime this summer, though - will you be heading to Orlando to join thousands of fans in the Wizarding World?

Tuesday, 6 May 2014

We were going through our FA Draft Posts folder and realised that we'd never posted this gem from fandom history.
At Nimbus - 2003, most of the attendees signed a piece of foam-core board that one of the attendees had brought - and instead of signing our real names, or fandom names, most everyone signed with their LiveJournal usernames! That was the year that so much of fandom migrated onto LJ, if they hadn't already; Facebook didn't exist yet, nor did YouTube or Twitter - although MySpace did!
How many names can you find and recognize? Did you read their fics or posts on LJ or here on FictionAlley?
Heidi currently has this poster at her office, and may raffle it off some day, or keep it forever as a fantastic, self-contained archive of information and content.

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Heidi's chapter on the Harry Potter fandom and fanfiction - which includes a long discussion of the history of FictionAlley - is now up at Wattpad. Flash back to the days of 2000 and 2001, when fanfiction was misunderstood and thought by many to be legally suspect, and we were having extensive discussions as to whether Voldemort, as a trademark, could be tarnished.
You can get a copy of Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World here on Amazon to download to your Kindle, or purchase the old-fashioned printed copy, and a portion of your purchase will go to support FictionAlley's hosting fees.

Sunday, 2 February 2014

You may have seen the piece in Hypable about today's Sunday Times headline that “JK admits Hermione should have wed Harry.” The article goes on to say:

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” she continued, “I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not.”

We hope not, too.

FictionAlley has long been a site that hosts fics of all shapes, sizes and ships. It's what we were founded to do way back 2001, and we have never refused to post a fic because of the characters or ships included in the story.

We've also hosted ship squee threads and ship debate threads in FictionAlley Park's SCUSA and VENOM forums; if you're H/Hr and want to talk about the news, you can join the thread here, and if you prefer R/Hr, you can re-start that thread by posting here.
Innumerable other ships, from Ron/Harry, Harry/Ron/Hermione and so many more can be found in SCUSA. Ship debates don't go in those threads; visit V.E.N.O.M. for "Vehement, Exuberant & Neverending Opinions, Monographed".
There've been a lot of reactions from all corners of the fandom - and among people who are Harry Potter fans but didn't participate in the fandom in the past. Some of those reactions draw on hurt feelings and stigmas from seven, ten, thirteen years ago, and some of those hurt feelings were caused by posts made on this site. In retrospect, some of us may look back on things we said with regret, with vindication, with insight from what we've learned and experienced since.

Back in 2003, right before OotP came out, Heidi wrote this:

We're all about to jump into this brand new era, pretty much in tandem with each other. And no matter what our shipping preferences are, who our favorite - and least favorite - characters may be ...It's going to be exciting, isn't it?

Fandom is forever; people who hadn't thought about Harry Potter specifics in years were on FB and tumblr and Twitter and FA and MN and TLC last night to talk about it, to revisit fics they loved, and some people are considering writing fics they didn't finish, or only thought about, after HBP or DH, but chose not to continue with because of shipping or character issues. If that's what comes out of these comments by JKR and Emma Watson - more stories, more art, more discussion, more fandom - then we will all be able to enjoy even more magic, for years to come.

Friday, 24 January 2014

Who's at the #HPCelebration at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando this weekend? Heidi will be covering all the events for FictionAlley and AdventuresByDad, so follow along for chats with the cast, a Wand Dueling lesson, a moment with new US book cover artist Kazu Kibuishi and so much more!
ETA:

Monday, 30 December 2013

On January 24, 25 and 26, Universal Orlando is hosting its second Celebration of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure - and if fans are lucky, they'll be able to see the London side of Diagon Alley in Universal Studios, too! Universal recently announced that James Phelps (Fred), Oliver Phelps (George) and Evanna Lynch (Luna) will be appearing at a Q&A with fans - who will also learn more about Pottermore, enjoy a wand dueling demonstration, learn about the visual look and feel of the filmed Potterverse and check out costumes and props from the Harry Potter Exhibition. Some will even get Sorted by the Sorting Hat as well.
On January 23 at about 10:30 AM (Eastern US Standard Time); those who've signed up in advance will be able to view a webcast with more information about the Diagon Alley expansion. Will you be watching? If you can't, we'll be sharing the news in FictionAlley Park as soon as we can.

Heidi from FictionAlley will be attending all three days of the Celebration of Harry Potter; if you're coming too, let us know so we can say hi!. While tickets to the private event in the WWoHP on Saturday night and reserved seats at the Q&As and demonstrations have been sold out for months, nonreserved seats are available to anyone with a Universal Orlando Islands of Adventure theme park ticket on Saturday or Sunday (Jan. 24/25). ETA: Matthew Lewis (Neville) and Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley (also Brian Williams from Doctor Who)) were just announced as attending the Celebration of Harry Potter as well!

Thursday, 12 September 2013

It's hard to type through the SQUEE we're feeling at the news that J.K. Rowling is partnering with WB to write a series of films based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the series she wrote for Comic Relief UK back in 2001.

Yes, she's writing films set in the Wizarding World circa 1920, in New York and elsewhere, and here's what the lady herself had to say:

“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of
witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic
Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the
Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws
and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who
has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story
will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.
It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of
turning ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a film. I thought
it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed
author of ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ realized by another writer was difficult.
Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very
protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry
Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his
grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter
series, Luna Lovegood.
As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t
dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to
Warner Bros.
I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his
support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I
always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an
idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

We don't have release date (or even casting) information yet, but we feel like we've had far too much Pepper-Up Potion as we contemplate not just the film (and the tie-in novel, and the merchandise, and the gifs!) but also the inspiration that it will be for fanworks of all types.

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

FictionAlley will be down for about an hour starting at midnight Eastern time on August 28, because we need to replace a failing drive. This will impact all fics, reviews, boards and other content, but we'll be back soon!
Remember, FictionAlley's hosting fees are about $200 per month, and we need your support to cover those costs. Learn how to donate to FictionAlley here!

If you're going to be at DragonCon this weekend, join us at the Velocity Bar at the Marriott on Saturday night from 9 PM on for chocolate nachos and fannish conversation. Follow FA's Heidi on Twitter to get exact info about where we'll be - and we hope to see you at the YA track, with Natalia Tena or Lev Grossman, and of course on Sunday night at the Yule Ball, featuring the Blibbering Humdingers!

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Hello, San Diego!
If you're coming to Comic Con, the Harry Potter fandom has some terrific plans!
The annual Harry Potter Fandom Panel (Still Magic!) takes place on Sunday, July 21 at 4:15 PM in Room 6DE at the Convention Center. Sixteen years after we first went to Hogwarts, fans are still discussing, creating and gathering online and in person to share their love for J. K. Rowling's stories, and for the fandom! Look back, ahead, and into the Mirror of Erised with forever HP fans, including moderator Heidi Tandy (FictionAlley.org), Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal (Team StarKid/A Very Potter Senior Year), Mark Oshiro (MarkDoesStuff.com), Harrison Homel (International Quidditch Association), Leslie Combemale (ArtInsights), Alex Carpenter (The Remus Lupins), and Lauren Bird (HP Alliance). Comic-Con badges are required for admission to this panel.

FictionAlley's Heidi Tandy is also on a panel on fanfiction with others who've contributed essays to SmartPop Books' FIC!, which is coming out this fall. Fanfiction has recently moved into the spotlight, with fic authors getting impressive book deals and Amazon announcing Kindle Worlds. But there's a lot more to the story than Fifty Shades of Grey. Panelists Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Christina Lauren (tby789 and LolaShoes, Beautiful Bastard), Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires, Weather Wardens), V. Arrow (aimmyarrowshigh, The Panem Companion), and Heidi Tandy (heidi8, Organization for Transformative Works) discuss how fan writing-from missing scenes to remixes and crossovers-and other fanworks re-imagine the boundaries of everything from sexuality and gender to character and authorship. They'll discuss the way fan culture is challenging today's entertainment and publishing industry norms, and consider the value a noncommercial creative space can bring to emerging and even professional writers and artists. Moderated by Anne Jamison (Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World). It's on Friday from 2 - 3 PM in Room 29A; badges are required for this panel, too.
If you're interested in fanfic, please join our friends at the OTW for A Meet-Up Of Our Own. Join Team OTW, MarkDoesStuff and a flock of fandomers, authors and readers who use and enjoy the AO3. There'll be pitchers of margaritas & sodas, as well as snacks like chips and salsa.

We're hosting activities including a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity. You'll also have plenty of chances to meet fellow fans, learn about OTW members' Comic Con panels and share - and get - your own Comic Con tips. And yes, we'll have prizes and giveaways, too!

We'll be at the Tequila Bar at the Marriot Marquis & Marina adjacent to the Convention Center from 8 PM until after 9:30, so we'll overlap with the end of Preview Night. To join us at A Meet-Up Of Our Own, no Comic Con badge (or Preview Night registration) is required; we're just asking for $5 donations. Anonymous donors have underwritten much of the cost of the event, so any surplus will be donated to OTW.

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

If you're a fan of YA, general book geekery or an aspiring writer (original or fanfiction!), Ascendio has the programming track for you! The Quill Track will be an entire track of programming (both formal and informal!) dedicated to all things books and writing.

Best of all, the Quill Track is 100% included in your Ascendio registration!

Ascendio is the eighth event put on by HPEF, a nonprofit organized by Harry Potter fans to put on amazing, educational and fun events for fans, academics, writers, authors, Quidditch players, debaters, and anyone who loves discussing - or has been inspired by - the Harry Potter series of books and films. HPEF also hosted events like Nimbus - 2003, Azkatraz and Infinitus 2010, and the event is set to take place in Orlando, Florida from July 12 - 15, 2012. Click here for the website.

We will also have not one, but THREE literary agents who will be in attendance: Carlie Webber of the Jane Rotrosen Agency, Lindsay Ribar of the Sanford J. Greenburger Associates agency, and Joanna Volpe, Vice President of the Nancy Coffey Literary Agency. Carlie, Lindsay and Joanna will all be hosting pitch sessions, as well as leading discussions on the publishing industry and writing.

Here are some of the great things you can look forward to as part of the Ascendio Quill Track:

Panel discussions on hot topics in publishing, including commercial publishing vs. self-publishing, LGBTQ in YA, how to get an agent, and more

Practical presentations by successful fans-turned-published authors on how to go from fanfic to pro writing, as well as how-tos on self-publishing ebooks

Workshops on writing (fanfic and original) and critiquing

The opportunity to give a one page pitch & receive feedback from a real live literary agent!

Of course, Ascendio is still all about Harry Potter, but we realize that many fans -- including many of us on staff! -- love books in general, and have been inspired by Harry Potter and fandom to move on to our own original writing. Hence, the Quill Track was born, by Harry Potter fans, for Harry Potter fans... who also love books and writing! You can expect most, if not all, topics on the Quill Track to relate to Harry Potter, though some will also discuss other titles in YA, middle grade and adult contemporary canon. All of the authors, agents and presenters on the Quill Track are Harry Potter fans, and many of them either wrote Harry Potter fanfic or have actively participated in HP geekery in the past.

The Quill Track is still a part of Formal Programming at Ascendio -- we just decided to give all writing/publishing programming a special name so it’s easy to find on the program and at the con! What does this mean? The Quill Track needs you! You can submit a programming proposal for the Quill Track about any of the above topics, or anything you come up with -- if it has to do with writing (original or fanfiction!), publishing or books other than Harry Potter (such as The Hunger Games, Divergent), you can propose it for the Quill Track!

We tried to set up the RSS feed to post to the front page and it didn't work as it was supposed to. We're going to collate the postings from the last three weeks and do an update, and then plan to post a weekly update going forward, from February on.
If anyone is interested in helping with the postings, please email us at heidi@fictionalley.org - and thanks in advnace!

Rating: 15 - Spoilers: HBP, DH - 411 hits - 5486 words
Genre: Romance, Inspirational - Main character(s): Canon Female Character, Canon Male Character - Ships: Canon Female Character, Canon Male Character - Era: Multiple Eras Ted was a Muggle-born. Andromeda was a pure-blood from one of the greatest Wizarding families in history. Until she married him. We know them as the parents of Nymphadora Tonks. This is their story. And just wait until you find out who’s telling it!

Rating: PG-13 - Spoilers: None - 0 hits - 6963 words Genre: Original Characters, General - Main character(s): Original Female Character - Ships: None - Era: In the nineteen years Alexandra Quick has discovered the dark secret at the heart of the Confederation, survived a visit to the Lands Beyond, and been given seven years to live. Now she's determined to cheat her fate and see justice done. Standing in her way is a vengeful conspiracy and secrets even she is not prepared for. She'll need the help of her friends and loved ones, but even that may not be enough against the power of the Stars Above. This is book four of the Alexandra Quick series. For more information, see the Quickipedia. View cover art and other images. Published: December 30, 2011 (after Beedle the Bard) - Updated: December 30, 2011

Rating: 15 - Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP, HBP, DH, EPI, QTTA, FB, BB, JKR - 497 hits - 20457 words Genre: Romance, Drama - Main character(s): George Weasley, Original Female Character - Ships: George Weasley/Original Female Character - Era: In the nineteen years One year after the War is over, George still hasn't gotten over Fred's death. Ron swears George needs a distraction to get away from "last year." Then, George meets Kaitlyn Thompson. Kaitlyn is loyal - to a fault. After all, that's what made her a great Hufflepuff. Her older brother (who has problems of his own, mind you) swears she needs to get out more, and break up with her awful boyfriend. Kaitlyn disagrees. Then, she meets George Weasley. Published: November 3, 2011 (after Beedle the Bard) - Updated: December 30, 2011